Remarkable osprey hatches first egg for two years
Tuesday 22nd May 2012
Image: Scottish Wildlife Trust
The resident female osprey at the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Loch of the Lowes reserve in Dunkeld has hatched her first egg for two years, the 62nd egg of her lifetime.
The osprey, known affectionately by many as ‘Lady’, was standing by yesterday as the first of her three eggs started to break. The chick emerged after 12 hours, at 7pm on Monday 21 May.
Almost 20,000 people watched the egg hatch live on the nest webcam, available to view online at http://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/things-to-do/wildlife-webcams/loch-o...
The formidable bird has been returning to Loch of the Lowes for 22 years and has laid 64 eggs during her time there. 48 of those have produced chicks that have fledged, so this year she may reach a half century of chicks fledged at Loch of the Lowes.
This chick is the first born at Loch of the Lowes since 2010 as last year the eggs failed to hatch, despite being proved fertile.
This year, the female and her new partner have been incubating three eggs, so there are two still in the nest, which should hatch any day now.
Scottish Wildlife Trust Perthshire Ranger Emma Rawling said:
“The chick started breaking through the egg at 7 in the morning and was finished by soon after 7 at night. This is perfectly normal; eggs can take up to 24 hours to hatch.
“We know the female is used to being a parent but we didn’t know what to expect from her new partner. Fortunately, he seems to be acting responsibly. He has been to catch fish and the chick has been fed this morning.
“It is eating happily and looking strong.
“To successfully fledge this number of eggs is a quite unbelievable achievement. We expect her to reach the milestone of 50 later in the week. We’ve had interest from all over the world and people visiting in their droves since the eggs were laid.
“We expect many more as the other eggs hatch and the chicks fledge. We are going to satellite tag these osprey chicks to monitor exact routes, timings and behaviours of these fascinating migrating birds.”